SLS Gullwing sold out for six months

Mercedes-Benz is expected to sell out of its allocation of SLS Gullwings for this year within a fortnight of the new supercars arriving in local showrooms.

A handful of SLS Gullwings have begun to arrive at dealerships across Australia, but they barely have time to be put on display as each one has been sold before it has touched down.

Mercedes-Benz Australia shocked the top end of town in April when it announced the SLS would come in close to $150,000 less than anticipated with a list price of $464,000 plus dealer fees and registration charges.

Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman David McCarthy says that 50 of the 70 cars to be delivered this year already have paid deposits on them, but the final 20 are expected to be spoken for by the end of next week.

"The response has been phenomenal," McCarthy said. "We know that Australia is one of the highest AMG markets in the world per-capita but we've been really blown away by the response to this car."

He said Mercedes-Benz Australia management had put a request in to Germany for more cars, but that the request was not likely to be met.

"We'd like to get more, we've asked for more, but the reality is we just can't get them," he said.

"That's not necessarily a bad thing, because we still want to keep the car exclusive."

One customer, who wishes to remain anonymous, reportedly bought two SLS cars -- one for him and one for his wife.

"I'm not sure there are too many countries that can take credit for someone buying two SLS Gullwings," he said. "That just shows you how fanatical Australian customers are about exotic vehicles."

So fanatical, in fact, that Mercedes-Benz Australia is giving each SLS customer a tailor-made car cover and battery charger to keep the vehicle in peak condition while garaged.

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